Sharks get day off in Dallas, Boyle heads home after leaving St. Louis hospital — and, yes, there’s a connection

DALLAS – Print edition story filed, an update of the Dan Boyle situation on a number of fronts:

*Todd McLellan canceled the Sharks practice today in a suburban rink because he felt recent events were both physically and emotionally taxing on his players. He noted that a lot of guys put in a lot of minutes with Boyle, Matt Pelech and, to a lesser extent, Andrew Desjardins out of the lineup for extended periods. And rest was more important than skating.

All the remaining five d-men did log more than 20:00 each against the Blues, with Justin Braun topping all at 25:22 – almost five minutes more than his average this season. Only one forward, Patrick Marleau, topped 20:00 at 20:28, but all but the fourth line had at least 15:17.

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*Dan Boyle spent much of the day in a St. Louis hospital, then flew back to San Jose where he will continue to undergo medical evaluation.

Getting mixed signals at this point as to his condition.

Boyle and I exchanged texts in which he said, “I’m OK. That was scary. Hopefully the symptoms will be very minor, if any, going forward.”

Meanwhile, the team wouldn’t characterize Boyle’s condition, indicating it was too soon to know.

*Maxim Lapierre, who was invited to an in-person hearing by the NHL that could result in a suspension of more than six games or not, talked to reporters in St. Louis, telling them how bad he feels about the consequences of his hit and how he tried calling Boyle to apologize, but Boyle didn’t answer. He said he understood why he wouldn’t.

Anyway, all that should be covered in greater detail here And if you want the St. Louis coverage of Lapierre’s statements, go here

****The timing worked well for Brad Stuart, who will replace Boyle just as that three-game suspension comes to an end. Stuart will switch to the right side, not his preferred location, but one he’s played in the past.

He’ll also be paired with Matt Irwin, who talked about seeing his partner flat on the ice last night.

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“I didn’t see the hit,” Irwin said. “He went back for the puck, pushed it behind the net for me and then I started carrying the puck, so I didn’t see the hit.

“Obviously in the commotion afterward, I looked back and saw Dan on the ice so I knew it wasn’t great. You don’t wish that upon anyone, but when you see that as a teammate it hits home.

“It’s in the back of your head for the rest of the game and especially in those first five minutes while he was laying there,” Irwin continued. “It was a pretty scary moment.”

How did he refocus on the game after that?

“You just know there’s a task at hand,” Irwin said. “I think the best way to refocus on that is to get redemption on the other team. We came out on the power play and got two goals and that was the best way for us to get back at them.

“Guys did their job after the incident,” he continued. “We stuck together as a group and we wanted to get that win for Dan. It was a big win for us and to get it for him, as a group that was a big test for us.”

****The next big test for the Sharks is in Dallas where they face the Stars on Thursday night before heading back to a one-game homestand at the SAP Center.

The Sharks will be going for their second consecutive 7-0 start to a season and already have earned a spot in the NHL record book, according to the Elias News Bureau. No team before this season had ever gone 6-0 in two consecutive years.

These, of course, aren’t the Stars of the Brenden Morrow-Steve Ott era. They’re gone and the leading Dallas scorer is now ex-Bruin Tyler Seguin with seven points. Lindy Ruff is behind the bench and former Detroit assistant GM Jim Null runs the front office.

****The game will be Joe Thornton’s 600th as a Shark and if Antti Niemi gets the win, it’ll be his 100th since coming to San Jose.

****The Sharks finally acknowledged — even if only indirectly — that the injury plaguing forward Adam Burish is more serious than originally thought when the prognosis was that he’d be skating any day now.

Instead, he was placed on injured reserve and likely to undergo back surgery. The damage came in San Jose’s exhibition opener in Vancouver.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

“Okay” could mean his jaw is wired shut, but he’s grateful to be able to walk, or it could mean he’s got a concussion but he’s feeling alright with it, or it could mean just about anything. Hope he’s truly okay and that we find out more soon!

RicciRocks

Hope Boyler is ok. Personal health comes before hockey.

Never would have thought the Sharks would be in the headlines so much in the first six games. Nice to see the boys rally around Boyler and make St.Louis pay on the power play.

I still remember LaPierre’s hit on Nichols and I was upset that no one on the Sharks did anything about it- physically or one the scoreboard afterwards. Figures that LaPierre turtled after they came after him.

I’m glad the Sharks openly talked about getting Rafi to change his game, even if it didn’t necessarily look that way in the playoffs. Gives them a tiny bit more credence when they complain about LaPierre.

Lori Larman

It could be a broken jaw, orbital bone, and even the small bone in the ear. If any one of those things happen and then you factor in the possible brain swelling from the concussion. It may take three to six weeks before we know the results of these injuries. May prayer circle will be in full swing to until we know.

Phat Stat Phil

Open question which was spawned from another thread: If Torres came back tomorrow night and was perfectly healthy, would you dress him? Who would you scratch?

LegendaryWealth

Pelech, Sheppard, and WIngels, in that order, Pelech and Sheppard are pretty obvious casualties when Torres and Havlat return, if everyone else is healthy.

LegendaryWealth

You don’t know that he got a concussion.

Stevo

When you’re knocked unconscious, you will have a concussion to some degree. Concussion can occur absent of bleeding, swelling, or tearing of the brain.

GP_hockeyhappens

It’s not a valid question…you’re just trying to stir a pot. Raffi isn’t healthy for quite a while. Most others are healthy and not suspended in fwd lines.

That said, the only two players you “think” about sitting is Pelech or Nieto. The Sharks are going, so you don’t need to make a change.

But, back to reality, TMac doesn’t have to make any choice about this at all.

Sharks247

Yes it was good to see the boyz get their dander up and kickass the proper way – on the score board.

Gutless Lapierre. Taunts the bench, then takes out Boyler, then apologizes with the “I didn’t mean it” clause. Whatever. Gutless.

Godspeed Danny! We’re all sending good vibes your way.

GSDI

Stevo

Mr. Pollak,

I hope you’ve had easy travels so far. STL… I’ll assume you made it to The Hill. Just looking for a quick review if time allows.

Cheers!

Herf

Brain swelling is not a necessary symptom of a concussion. Brain swelling only occurs in extreme cases.

LegendaryWealth

So the term “concussion” by itself is pretty meaningless since it can be so temporary as to not even constitute an injury.

Wonderogre

Dude, I like to give Phil a hard time for his fanaticism when it comes to Torres, but I think you’re probably overreacting here just a bit.

Wonderogre

If/when Havlat does return I hope they trade him the hell out of here ASAP. I would be surprised if management had much faith left in him.

LegendaryWealth

Trading him for nothing would be a great move because obviously the team would play worse with him on the ice instead of Pelech or Sheppard.

GP_hockeyhappens

No, not at all. Just giving a closing answer to a presumed open question.

Phat Stat Phil

GP: If there’s anything I won’t abide, it’s people jumping to conclusions.

This is an interesting question to me because of what you just pointed out. Everything is going well for the Sharks, so do you keep him sitting? Do you put last year’s second line winger back on the second line? Third line? Fourth line?

There’s no clear right answer.

Wonderogre

Heh, well I’d ask for at least two bags of pucks in return. Maybe even three.

Phat Stat Phil

Trading Havlat as soon as possible would almost certainly be the right move, but I’d hope we could get some sort of return for him.

I’d really hoped we could work out a deal during this last draft, but I don’t think anyone’s buying.

Herf

It is an injury. It can be very slight or it can be deadly. Like many other injuries.

It would almost certainly be the right move, because Havlat not being on the roster will cause the team to play better, while inserting him into the lineup in place of Pelech or Sheppard would cause the team to play worse.

LegendaryWealth

Right, because that kind of return would improve the team, whereas if Havlat played he would actually make the team worse than when Pelech or Sheppard plays.

Phat Stat Phil

I don’t agree that Havlat’s departure will cause the team to play better.

I think you might have meant that keeping the team as is will allow them to continue playing at their present strength?

In any event, I think Havlat does still have value as a player. I can’t help but wonder if he’d play well with Hertl since they speak the same language and Havlat’s been translating for him on the ice.

On those lines, moving Burns back to D might be a consideration. I still think it’s a shame that we haven’t been able to see the Larry Robinson effect on Burns on defense yet.

Phat Stat Phil

Generally that’s my understanding. Think of a concussion not as an injury, but as a condition created by an injury.

I think it’s in part the lack of distinction between the effects that make it so hard to tell when someone will recover from a concussion, whether they’ll have post-concussion effects, etc.

That said, I’m happy to defer to Herf since the way he speaks suggests to me that he has some professional expertise vs. being an informally educated autodidact like me.

Wonderogre

Honestly I thought he was being sarcastic. If not… 8-|

Wonderogre

Arrrrg, I’ve had two long replies wiped out by what could only be divine intervention, so I will just try to be as short as possible and switch to my native tongue:

I think dress Torres not question. Easy replace Pelech, Sheppard, or Desi. Question is where he go in line-up. He make fourth line better, but is best use, him and other players? First line untouchable. Likely candidates Kennedy and Nieto.

Like Nieto. Like skill. Capable, can maybe develop on fly. But at times nervous, inconsistent. Benefit from sheltered minutes on fourth line?

Kennedy okay. Sometime forget he exist. Have to think hard, ‘Who is player on second line who not Marleau or Couture?’ Should have more point by accident. Not even PK! Gut feeling: he drag line down. Worst o-zone end %age on team. Logan and Patty close ahead. But Hockeyanalysis with/without stat suggest different story – Marleau and Couture get worse away from…uhh…what his face. You know who. But suspect small size of sample.

So I try maybe drop Kennedy first. Top six Thornton/Hertl/Burns and Couture/Marleau/Torres scary. Third line of Nieto/Pavs/Wingels may be one of best third line in hockey by late season.

LegendaryWealth

Surely it cannot be almost certainly the right move to trade someone, regardless of the return, who has value as a player, no? The only way it could almost certainly be the right move is if he has zero or negative value as a player. If this is not the case then you must demonstrate some other reason.

LegendaryWealth

Well here’s the thing: I am just defaulting to the most straightforward rationale for the argument for trading him, since neither you nor he has provided one. If my argument seems absurd (which it should), then you should consider reexamining the validity of your argument.

Wonderogre

More pucks = more practice. And if there is one thing that Pelech and Sheppard could use…

Phat Stat Phil

Sweet jumping Jesus in a blender. People say that I’m convoluted. My hat is off to you, sir.

If you wanted to know why we think Havlat ought to be traded, you could just ask! Sarcasm — especially in the medium of text without emoticons — is awfully hard to detect on the internet where one has been conditioned to expect inane commentary!

I can’t speak for Wonderogre, but I’m on board with Havlat being traded for a few reasons:

1) It would give us more space against the salary cap. That generally gives Wilson a freer hand with respect to trades and I trust him with the team.

2) I believe we have sufficient depth without Havlat, so we could reasonably trade him away for something — draft picks or a prospect, for example — which would help us in the future.

3) Havlat has a regrettable tendency to suffer long term injuries. Arguably, he has the most value when he’s healthy, so that would suggest that it’s a good time to sell.

4) On another note, there have been mutterings — mostly from Bret Hedican — that people within the organization are unhappy with Havlat as a result of the last time he took the ice for the Sharks. As a player with skills I’d respect, I’d prefer to see him get a shot elsewhere.

Phat Stat Phil

Honestly, I have my doubts that Pelech has much of a ceiling or even that he’s good enough to be in the NHL. That said, he’s performed reasonably for us in a fourth line role.

I do have hope for Sheppard making it off the fourth line though.

Rohit Krishnan

You have to keep Nieto. Pelech would be the one that gets scratched. Pretty logical

Andrew Gaul

I figure if he’s “okay” enough to fly, he’s got to be in decent condition. I doubt they’d send him off with serious concussion (or other) symptoms.

Like you say, skr213, could just be stabilized – neck brace, jaw wired shut, etc – until he got back to SJ for more analysis and treatment.

Stevo

Not at all.

Google is your friend.

mn_test347

I would consider being unconscious “temporary loss of normal brain function”.

Wonderogre

I don’t think Pelech has much of a ceiling as a punch man, let alone a hockey player. Sheppard? He is I thonk going to be a casualty of this sea son’s increased depth.

LegendaryWealth

Not your friend apparently, because you just contradicted yourself.

LegendaryWealth

Either way it is absurd to call a five-second loss of brain function an “injury” given the connotation of the word in common use.

Herf

It is an injury. Since people are ignorant, we should not use the term even though it is medically accurate? Personally, I prefer science to ignorance.

BTW, a “five-second” loss of brain function can turn into something much worse even months later.

LegendaryWealth

You can call it an injury when you’re writing a medical report, not when you’re trying to make a point in general conversation. If his concussion only lasted five seconds then it is immaterial. Saying that such an event could turn into something much worse months later is no different than saying a superficial skin laceration could turn into something much worse months later (by getting infected). It’s a remote and statistically improbable hypothetical that doesn’t warrant serious discussion unless future events transpire.

ice

dress him. duh.

Phat Stat Phil

and you’d scratch who…?

ice

scratch pelech. im liking nieto right now.

Phat Stat Phil

If I ever have to select a neurologist from WTC, I’m pretty sure I’ll take Herf over you, LW.

Even if it’s after I’ve had a concussion.

Admit it: You have no idea what the probabilities are or what varieties concussions come in.

Your bluster here is not doing you credit.

LegendaryWealth

I know anecdotally that athletes in all different sports get temporarily knocked unconscious all the time and don’t suddenly develop serious brain symptoms several months later. I have been following sports for a number of years and there has been no evidence to suggest that the probability of temporary loss of consciousness leading to serious symptoms months later is more than remote.

Wonderogre

I said nothing originally about trading him for nothing, but since this is what you’re on about, I’ll just point out that before the extent of his injury and need to have surgery became apparent, Havlat was a strong buy-out candidate, which would have been the equivalent of trading him AND a pile of extra money for nothing. And it may have been a great move, because the cap space may have gone towards a Brunner or a Grabovski, perhaps even a MacArthur. Hell, in a fantasy world where Doug Wilson makes significant free agent signings, that would would have allowed us to sign two of those guys.

It may never have happened, but the cap room would have been nice just in case – and let’s face it: there is nothing reliable about Havlat’s presence. I was optimistic when we acquired him, but the guy practically hurts himself when he sneezes.

LegendaryWealth

If this was June and you said “I hope they buy Havlat the hell out of here ASAP!” then my response to our post would have been quite different, because those points would have been valid. As it stands right now there is almost zero benefit to freeing his salary until the end of the season.

By suggesting that he should be traded ASAP, with total disregard for any return, you are ignoring the fact that he still has value as a player, value which would be wasted if he was not traded for equal or greater value. He was healthy the three seasons before he was traded here so it’s entirely plausible that he will replicate that history and add significant value to the lineup, value which you seem to be willing to forfeit based on your unconditional hope to trade him.

Herf

I’ve never understood what people get out of being willfully ignorant instead of trying to learn something.

GP_hockeyhappens

Phil,

What I should have said, “Folks, be careful of playing the game. If you don’t already know, Phil has an interest in slamming Torres any chance he gets.”

You do realize that anytime you mention something regarding Torres, your mindset is one way and people know it. You really shouldn’t be surprised a specific conclusion was assumed.

So, even after my course disclaimer exposed that concept, I actually played the game and answered your question. I had not discounted the idea that you might be leaving your agenda out of the discussion this time.

LegendaryWealth

I’ve never understood what people get out of lapsing into vague philosophical abstractions when they have exhausted their means of disputing a point of view with which they disagree.